Sally felt strong like nothing could stop her. She was in control. Ashley needed her, and she needed Ashley.
‘It’s okay,’ she said.
‘That man,’ Ashley said, pointing at Charlie lying on the dirt track. ‘He messaged me. I thought it was you. He was so convincing. He met up with me, then he hit me, and then he tied me up. He kept saying awful things over and over. He kept saying you hated me and that you wanted me dead. He said I was going to die.’
‘It’s over now,’ Sally replied, and she found herself crying too. Both of them were embracing each other and crying on the other’s shoulder.
‘You stabbed him?’ Ashley asked.
They let go of each other. Charlie was lying there, a few feet away, and they both stared at his body. Sally couldn’t tell if he was breathing.
‘Yeah, with a necklace I stole,’ Sally replied.
‘You stole a necklace? I didn’t know you could steal anything.’
‘It’s a long story,’ Sally said.
‘You got him though.’
‘I did,’ Sally replied.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Ashley said.
‘Me neither. It just happened.’
‘Do you think he’s going to die?’ Ashley asked.
‘I don’t know, and I don’t care.’
Ashley leaned in. Her face nudging against Sally’s ear. ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Sally.’
‘I’m sorry too. I am sorry for everything.’
Ashley smiled. ‘We’re both as bad as each other.’
‘No, we aren’t. We’re good. We’re alive.’ She closed the boot and led Ashley to the front of the car, holding hands with each other. They were both physically weak, but Sally felt stronger than she’d ever been. She had defied her drugged body. She’d fought back against Charlie. She’d fought for her and Ashley’s life, and she had won. She wasn’t a coward. She hadn’t run away. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said.
She’d been wrong. She didn’t hate herself.
And if her Dad could see her, she knew he would be proud.
They sat in the car. Sally in the driver’s seat, and Ashley next to her. They both looked at each other and sighed, a release of tension. They may have been hurt, and their bodies weak, but all the pain was gone.
The car keys were still in the ignition. Sally turned them, and the car sputtered. She put her foot down on the pedal. She turned the car around on the track, careful to miss Charlie's body lying across the dirt. She floored the acceleration, and the car screeched down the dirt road, away from Charlie.
The car windows were wound open. The night air flushed through. Fresh and cool, it whipped their hair. Sally and Ashley were crying. Nothing else seemed to matter any more. They were free, and they were alive. Sally screamed out the window in pure joy, and her hands tightened around the steering wheel. The car was at full speed. The headlights opened up the empty countryside around them.
‘Are we okay?’ Ashley asked Sally.
‘We’re safe now. We’re together,’ Sally replied, and for the entire drive back to the city they didn’t stop holding hands.
Maybe she’d call her Mum. Maybe she won’t. It didn’t matter. She was free. Free to choose either. Whatever she did, she’d do it facing her problems. No more running from her past.
As the city came into view, she remembered her Dad’s last words, what he’d said to her as he lay on that hospital bed.
‘Go and live, Sally.’
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Rosie and Hannah for reading through this and offering their feedback and encouragement at a time when I needed it most. Special shoutout to Jessie for her massive amount of notes and support. Thanks guys.
Also by M.J. Patrick
FIXATION
A beautiful celebrity. An obsessive waiter. A one night stand gone wrong.
* * *
She humiliated him. Now he wants revenge.
* * *
When the gorgeous Christine walks into his restaurant and seductively invites him to a hotel room, Daniel doesn’t believe his luck.
* * *
She’s a famous actress and he’s just a lowly waiter.
* * *
But when the one night stand goes terribly wrong and Christine laughs at him, Daniel feels humiliated. Rejected. Who does she think she is?
* * *
Christine has to pay for what she’s done. She has to learn there are consequences to her actions. Daniel isn’t going to stay embarrassed.
* * *
No.
* * *
He’s going to follow her.
Stalk her.
* * *
He’s going to get his revenge.
* * *
A gripping thriller from the eyes of a stalker seeking his own kind of justice in the modern social media world.
* * *
Available on Amazon
The Busker: A gripping psychological thriller Page 22